TIRK038 - HEDFORD VACHAL - TOYS / ALAN VS GARY

Brad Vachal and Eric Hedford are two bearded colossi of the Portland, Oregon music scene; one a founding father of the dance scene in the Pacific Northwest with a CV that stretches back to the early nineties, the other an original member of the Dandy Warhols, the relatively sane band in the genius Dig movie.

They've played together on and off together at Portlands' legendary disco / funk basement party Soul Stew for nearly a decade, and now they're making sweet music with each other for Tirk under the neatly assembled moniker Hedford Vachal.

Proceedings open with six and a half minutes of live drums and bass driven cosmic funk in the shape of Alan vs Gary, all spacey synths and motorik rhythms riding a low slung groove to disco oblivion. 'Toy's' strips things back with a raw bass and bleep groove providing the backing for Eric's cooly delivered vocal , which is joined by a scronky P funk/drone riff in the last quarter, all of it combining for a winning Downtown NY 81 feel.

On the flip, Richard Sen (half of Padded Cell) turns in what has to be one his best pieces of work to date, which is a big claim, and we're sticking to it. A classic disco style bassline drives along with all manner of trippy effects, bleeps and a vocodered version of Eric's vocal, before giving way to the kind of wonky teknoid riffs the BBC Radiophonic workshop used to dream up, with the overall effect sounding like T Connection jamming with the Emperor Machine, a fantasy combo if ever there was one, and Pure Padded cell. All power to the Sen!

Written & Produced by Eric Hedford and Brad Vachal
'Toys' Lyrics by The Epoxies
Guitar & Bass by Scott Pemberton
Recorded at Flooded, Portland, Oregon
Richard Sen remix Engineered by Tom Giles and Robin 12Tree
Published By Dharma Songs